Just Keep Talking, Just Keep Stalling
by The Narwhal Assassin
Summary: Another alternate ending to Death Note.
" _What a bunch of hopeless fools…_ "

Light Yagami, Kira, cast his gaze over those gathered. The SPK, the Japanese Task Force, Near, the man shuddering in the corner.

They were fools. Fools to think that, just because they discovered the identity of their foe, it meant they had won.

Light's thoughts drifted to the Death Note scrap in his watch.

" _Nate River_ ". Two words, shouldn't take too long to write. He had a pen on him. Aizawa didn't think to prevent that. _Near_ didn't think to prevent that. Fools.

Light stared at Matsuda, and the gun in the man's trembling hands.

" _I can't write here. It'd be suicide…_ "

But the only chance to write Near's name would be now…

Light growled softly. Near wasn't L's successor for nothing, it seemed…

Light stared at Near, the detective moving around the L finger puppet around the floor with a single finger.

" _If I can just get him to talk. To stall. That's all I need…_ "

"Near, tell me something."

Near stared with malice.

Light smirked at the albino's barely-contained hatred, "What will you do with those

notebooks when this is over?"

Near's anger retreated into apathy. "'When this is over'. That doesn't sound like you. Kira hates to lose…"

"What's the point in denying loss?" Light asked, smug.

Near's anger returned. "Are you trying to play mind games with me? Are you trying something?"

Aizawa stepped forward. "Light, stop. There's no point."

Light's gaze went to Aizawa. "Near won. They reason he brought us here was to rub his utter victory in my face. Shouldn't I be told every aspect of my defeat, including what will be done with my weapon?"

"No. The only thing you need to know is that we took you down, Mello and I."

"That," Light crossed his arms, "reminds me. Before Takada died, there was a news report on an accomplice being killed by her bodyguards. Did you know that accomplice?"

Near twirled his hair.

"Well, even if you don't, I think I can tell the kind of person he was."

Light stepped forward, making the tall blonde agent (Light hadn't bothered to look at his name) raise his gun slightly.

"It seems to me that he was willing to die so that Mello would succeed. If that's the case, why didn't we see him at the Mafia hideout on November 10th? That makes me think that this guy joined in after the Mafia raid."

"Anyone could see that." Near spat.

"Yes, but why would Mello trust someone to sacrifice themselves if they had been hired off the street or something?"

"What are you trying to say?" Aizawa spoke up.

"Maybe," Light looked at Aizawa, "Mello and this guy were connected before Mello was a Mafia member. That's why Mello trusted him to sacrifice himself so that Takada could be successfully captured. Maybe this guy was even at Wammy's…"

"Kira, what are you trying to do?" Near asked. "Are you trying to bait me into revealing some sort of personal information, or to lose composure? _Please_ don't insult me like that."

Light snickered. "So cold, Near. I'm just trying to understand a few things. If this person Mello was getting help from was Wammy's material, then Wammy's must not be very prestigious after all…"

Near's eyebrows lowered slightly.

"I mean, _Mello_ was number two? _Two_? Even though he was really the person to contribute to my capture. Their number one student was someone who only won because of a little mistake on the part of Mikami?"

X-Kira shuddered in the corner, whimpering "God".

"Not even _my_ mistake, but a mistake made by someone I had to use in such short notice. Do you really think that relying on something like _that_ means that you've won?"

" _That's right. Just keep talking…_ " Light thought.

"Light Yagami, do you really think that if you keep on talking, you'll stall me long enough to think up a way to kill me, the SPK, the Task Force, and get back the notebook?"

Light tensed. " _Damn you…_ "

"Rester, Gevanni," Near looked to his finger puppets, "please restrain him."

The blonde and black agents walked towards Light. Mikami was left trembling alone.

" _Stay calm…_ " Light thought.

"Kira, don't try anything. I'll shoot," Gevanni looked at the Task Force. "Or one of them will."

"Near, do you really think you can be L?"

Near held up a hand, stopping his men. "What do you mean?"

Light held back a grin. "The Kira Case wasn't the only case I worked on. It's been _four years_ since I became L. even if I reduced crime rates as Kira, L was still a busy man."

"Are you trying to say," Near began, his vice notably angry, "that you're a better L?"

"L found criminals, but only locked them up. That's all. I found them, put them away, and did away with them fully. I did what L couldn't. I think that's an improvement."

"You're a murderer. Nothing more." Near glared at Light.

"I'm a better L, I'm the icon of justice. I'm the one that almost killed you. It wasn't even my fault that I lost. It was all because someone was so loyal to me that they did more than needed and RUINED MY PLANS."

Mikami whimpered. Light removed his watch and threw it at Mikami, hitting the prosecutor in the head. The man fell down and began crying in earnest.

"Don't cry like that, fool. _Do not_ cry in front of your God! _Make yourself_ at least somewhat presentable. It's so _obvious_ that you didn't even think that you should just follow my orders!"

Mikami cried harder. "God, I did as you told me!"

" _Pull_ yourself together! _For_ God's sake, you really are pathetic! All the _times_ I told you not to interfere with my plans, and you _kill_ Takada anyway! And now we're going to get arrested, or probably killed, by _them_!"

Mikami buried his face in his hands, clutching the watch, as if holding onto some sort of holy artifact of a fallen god. He cried, or maybe laughed. His joy and sadness, all his emotions, were melding together now, all because his faith had been utterly broken.

"I wouldn't kill you, Yagami. Even if you _are_ a better L in the objective sense. You have no idea what it means to be L."

Light looked away from his now-convulsing servant and snickered. "I disagree. I hate criminals as much as L did."

"L didn't hate them. He put them in prison in the hopes that they could be rehabilitated. Killing them is direct sacrilege of L's desires. You are no L, you're just a delusional maniac who believes that he is the law."

Light was standing right in front of Near now, with all the people around him watching him intently. "Near, you're a hopeless fool. I am the new world, the God of it. I am progress."

Mikami whimpered loudly, crying out "God".

"You're just scum." Near growled.

"At least I'm not dead."

Rester, Gevanni, Matsuda, and Aizawa fell. Near's head whipped around quickly, distress on his features. Light grabbed Near and held the pajama-clad arms close to the torso, swinging the albino around as a shield against Ide and Mogi. Seconds later, they too, alongside Halle Lidner, fell to the ground. Light turned Near in his arms, holding the albino's face close.

Near stared at the man holding him up like a child. Near's voice, now sounding childishly pathetic, could only utter one word: "H-how?"

"God knows…" Light said in mock-confusion. He then began to laugh psychotically.

Near's body stiffened, and his wide eyes closed slowly. The albino's head tilted to the side, as if he was thinking, as he let out a last exhale.

"Goodbye, Nate River." Light chuckled as he dropped Near to the stone floor.

Near was dead.

Light stood there, drinking in his victory, before Mikami ran up to him and fell to his knees, his eyes welling with tears of joy. Light's watch, and the name-covered Death Note scrap, fell to the ground.

Light scoffed, a smirk on his lips. " _Pull_ yourself together."

Mikami laughed. "I didn't understand what God meant at first, but I put it all together."

"That was a good job, convulsing to hide your writing."

"God really distracted everyone with you rambl- I MEAN thoughtful prose!"

"I'm glad you didn't write my name down for hitting you in the head."

Mikami stared at Light with awe.

" _Are you two about to kiss?_ " Ryuk stepped forward.

Light chuckled. "I'm surprised at you, Ryuk. I thought you would've pointed out that Mikami was writing on the scrap."

" _If Near had asked me, I would've. Remember, I'm not on any side. If I had told him, I'd be taking a side in this._ "

"Well, I guess luck was on my side. Or maybe…" Light looked at the ceiling, maybe something that not even the God of Death could see.

"Or what, my lord?" Mikami asked.

Light shook his head. "Nothing."

Light, Ryuk, and Mikami stood there for a moment.

In a few minutes, Light and Mikami would pick up the bodies and fling them into Tokyo Bay. They would push the SPK's car in, as well, but not before using the GPS to find the SPK headquarters. They would drive the Task Force car to the SPK HQ, they would send a message to Wammy's from there, pretending to be Near, saying how Kira had "gotten the better of them", and not to try to find him, before the sound of a gun would cut both him and the signal off. They would drive to the NPA offices and notify that the Task Force was dead, acting as Officer Yagami and a witness, Mikami. They would call the President of the United States as Kira, telling that the SPK was no more. The current L would call Wammy's, separate from Near, saying how Near and all the investigators were dead. Kira would then send a message through Sakura TV that Kira was beginning his reign. Light Yagami and Teru Mikami would write "Misa Amane" into the Death Note, and perhaps go out for a drink and formally introduce themselves. "Hi, I'm Light Yagami", "I'm Teru Mikami", a hand shake. Ryuk would eat apples during all of this, not lifting a finger to help his entertainers.

But, for now, the victors and a spectator would stand in an abandoned warehouse, surrounded by corpses, and relish in victory.


End file.
